Raindrops On Roses

Hi everyone! It's Elyssa here. Before I post anything else, Nikki wants me to let you know that we're all really sorry we haven't been around for so long again - she got ill over a month ago, and has only been properly recovering now. (The doctors don't even know what it was, but they said it might have been glandular fever/mononucleosis. Whatever it was left her very tired and weak for ages, and just this last week she's been able to start doing things semi-normally again.:()
Also, Nellie's surgery will be scheduled in the near future. She's taking it all very well, under the circumstances, and Samantha has eased a little - although she does still seem upset at times. I think she's realized it isn't her fault, but it still upsets her to think about it. For Nellie's operation, they're waiting for the next available emergency slot, which will probably be sometime in the next two weeks. We're all praying for her!

For now, this is what this post is mostly about:
It's been raining a lot lately, and today I got bored, and decided to dress up for fun!:) I looked outside, and it wasn't raining, so Nikki decided I could go out for a photoshoot!:) There are probably too many photos, but it was fun.:)

This isn't where we actually started the pictures - we were in the front garden first, but one of the neighbors came out and we didn't want to be in their way, so we moved.:) (The one picture we got before the neighbor came out wasn't very good.)

I borrowed this white dress from Cindy (I'm not sure how we both fit it, but we do), and decided to make my outfit all white, for fun. Nikki said I looked like a little spring nymph with flowers in my hair, even though it's fall!:)

I'm not really looking at the camera in this one. I don't know why, lol!

This close-up's a little too close, I think.;)

This is back in the front garden. Around when Nikki took this picture, it started raining ever-so-gently - it was almost a little mist coming down on us.:) It had been raining earlier too, and all the flowers and leaves had little raindrops all over them! That's why I called this "Raindrops On Roses". I know there weren't actually any roses (they're in the back yard), but there were flowers.;)

I like the tilt on this one, for some reason. I think Nikki did it on purpose (she got a tiny bit carried away with the camera).;)

You can almost see the little tiny raindrops in my hair in this one.;) (In fact, I think if you enlarge it you might!)

New pose.:)

 

This one's a bit dark - I don't know why.:P Also, it showed the rain on my face too well (it was raining a lot harder by then), so it looks like I was crying!:P

I was going to leave this one out because of how hunchbacked I look, but I decided to keep it in because it's pretty funny!;)

This one's kind of dark, but I think it works (although it still looks like I'm crying a bit:P).

This one's nice, but it looks like I'm crying even though the lighting is fine!:P (It was raining quite a lot by then.:P)

 

My hair is looking decidedly wet by this picture.:P;) 

After this picture I slipped on the wet ground and fell face-first onto the path! After that we decided to go in (the rain was getting worse as well). My hair is wetter in the next pictures, because it picked up some water from the ground before I could get up.:P (I also got a tiny stain on the back on Cindy's dress...:/ Hopefully it'll scrub out though.;))

 My hair got really soggy after falling down.:P I think it goes a lot straighter when it's wet, too. (Nikki says she's the opposite - her hair's normally wavy/slightly curly, but when she gets even a little wet, it goes into a thousand tiny ringlets!;))

When we got inside, I flopped down onto the couch to rest, and Nikki decided I looked elegant, and took some more photos! (I think I look as tired as I was though.:P)

 Nikki says in this picture (and some of the others, but not as much), I look like a friend of hers.;)

Thank you for reading this, and I'm sorry if there were too many pictures. (I hope you liked them though.:)) I hope you're having a great day.:)
Do you like to dress up sometimes?:)

Playing with Rachel and Michael

Hello! This is Cindy. :) Nellie is still waiting for her operation, but I think she's sure to be okay! Don't you think so? Today I got to look after Catherine's little sister Rachel, and Carrie's brother Michael. They're four and five year old, and they're really cute! I love playing with them. :)

Anna let Rachel play with her doll Inga for the day, and she just loves her!
We started off playing Snakes and Ladders for a while, and Michael won most of the games. Finally, he and Rachel got a bit tired of it, so we decided to find something else to do instead.
"What shall we do, Cindy?" Michael asked me while I packed the game away.
Rachel got up and ran to the window.

She could only just see over the windowsill if she stood on tiptoe, and she looked sadly out at the grey clouds.
"We can't go outside..." she told me, with a sigh. "It's all rainy."
I thought for a few seconds, and then I had an idea. "Do you want to play with a ball?" I asked.
"Yes!" Michael and Rachel cheered together.
"Alright," I said, and I went to fetch a ball. I sat down on the floor with it and explained what we were going to do. "Rachel, you sit over there, and Michael, you sit down there, and we'll roll the ball between us, and catch it. We have to say who we're rolling it to before we push it."
"Okay," said Rachel, as she and Michael sat down.
"Can I roll the ball first?" asked Michael.

Rachel didn't seem to mind if he went first, so I said he could, and rolled it to him.
"Can I start?" he asked.
"Yes."
"I'm going to roll it to you, Cindy!" he said, and cheerfully rolled it over.

"Are you ready Rachel? I'm rolling it to you."

 Rachel caught it, looking very happy, and then a bit confused. "Who do I give it to?" she asked.
"Anyone you like," I told her.
"I'm giving it to you, Michael!"

We played 'rolling the ball' for quite a while, but eventually Rachel and Michael asked if we could play something else.
"Alright. What do you want to play?"
While they thought, I got up and put the ball away.

"I think we should play dolls!" Rachel said when I got back, hugging Inga.
"Nooo," Michael groaned. "I don't wanna play dolls."
"What do you want to play?" I asked.

 "I'll show you." Michael got up and ran out of the room.
 He came back in a moment and sat down again.

"I want to play with the parachute-man!" he said happily. "It's got a tiger!" He was holding a little parachute toy that Carrie gave him yesterday - the parachutist was a cute little tiger instead of a soldier, like they normally are.
"I don't wanna play parachute. I want to play dolls..." Rachel said, frowning sadly.
I wasn't sure what to do, but then I thought of something they would both like.
"I have an idea," I said smiling.

"What?" asked Rachel.
"I'll show you in a moment."
Rachel watched me with great curiosity as I went over to my bed and pulled a book out from under the pillow. It was a book of little prayers for children, that I was given when I was little, and I knew it had lots of beautiful pictures inside that Rachel and Michael would love.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It's a book of prayers. And it's full of pretty pictures. I'll read some of it to you, and you can both look at the pictures too."
Rachel smiled. "Yay!"
"You sit on the edge of the bed, and move up a bit, and I'll come and sit next to you so you can see the pictures."

 

"Come on Michael," I said, patting the bed on the other side of me. You come and sit here and we can look at the book together."

Michael got up and came to sit next to me.

I opened the book, and they both leaned in to see the pictures.

They liked the little prayers, too, and we spent ages sitting there and reading, until the early afternoon, when they went back with their sisters. :)
I had a lovely Saturday with Michael and Rachel. I hope you had a great Saturday too! :)

News On Nellie

Hi everyone! It's Elyssa here. We're sorry we haven't posted for so long again, but Nikki got mumps, and then there were a lot of other things to take care of too. Kit's cousin's arrival has been rescheduled, so she won't be here for a while yet, but we have been told what's happening with Nellie.

A few days after the accident, Lindsay and I went to visit her in the hospital. Samantha came with us - she visits Nellie every chance she gets. Nellie looked like she was in a lot of pain, and she was wearing casts on her arm and leg, and a splint on her finger.
"I brought Lydia for you," Samantha said, trying to smile. "You can keep her until you're out of here." I thought Samantha was doing a very good job of staying brave. She was more upset then any of us about Nellie being hurt, and we all kind of knew that she thought it was her fault, although she didn't say anything.

"Thank you," Nellie said, smiling, as Samantha put the doll down next to her.
"How are you doing in here?" Lindsay asked.
"I... I'm alright. Everybody's very friendly." Nellie looked a little distant.
"How much longer do you have to stay?" I asked.
"Well... I... They say quite a bit longer," Nellie said slowly.
"How much?" asked Lindsay.
"They... They say they don't know..."
"But why?" Samantha said, sounding very concerned. "Is something wrong?"
Nellie took her glance away from us.
"Wh - what is it?" Samantha asked, sounding almost tearful.

Nellie looked away.
"I... It's... They say... the break in my leg isn't going to heal normally."
"What?" we all said in shock.
"What does that mean?" Lindsay asked.

Nellie turned even farther away, and I could see she was trying not to cry.
"It - it won't heal with just the cast," she said. "They're going to take it off... And, they have t-to operate."
"Oh, Nellie!" Lindsay said.
"Is it a safe operation?" I asked.
"Yes... it's safe for me... but... they say it might not work."
"A-and... what..." Samantha gulped. I could see she was shaking. "Wh-what would that mean?"

Nellie turned to look at her and closed her eyes.
"They... they say if it doesn't work I won't walk again," she murmured.
We were all horrified.
"Oh... Nellie..." Samantha whispered shakily, her eyes filling with tears. She bent over and hugged her.

"I'm so sorry Nellie... This is my fault... I could have stopped you falling, but I didn't, and it's my fault... I'm so sorry..."

Nellie put her arm around Samantha.
"It - It's not your fault, Samantha," she said, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. "It was mine... I just slipped.You could never have done anything about it. It wasn't your fault. I promise you it wasn't... Please don't think it was."
Samantha slowly stood up.
"But...but I could have stopped you falling..." she said.
"No, you couldn't... I promise you, Samantha, it wasn't you fault."
"But now this is happening to you, and -"
"It's not hopeless. They're going to try the operation, and it may well work."
"But what if it doesn't?"
"Don't think about that... It'll be okay. I promise," Nellie said, trying to stay strong.
No one said anything for a moment.

"When are they going to do the operation?" Samantha asked finally.
"It hasn't been scheduled yet, but they say it will be a few weeks."
"Will you be okay?" Lindsay asked.
"Yes, I'll be fine." Nellie tried to smile.
"We'll come and visit you again," I said.
"Yes," said Samantha and Lindsay.
"Thank you."
I looked at the clock on the wall. "We have to go now," I said. "I'm sorry..."
"It's okay," said Nellie. "I'll see you again soon."
"Yes, see you again," said Lindsay.
"Goodbye," said Samantha.
"Goodbye... I promise you I'll be okay."
Samantha nodded, and soon we walked out and went home.

We found ourselves sitting in silence and staring at the walls. None of us could even believe this was happening. How could it be? We couldn't talk; we all had to take some time to think, and take the news in.
"She must be okay..." I said suddenly. "Surely..."
Lindsay glanced over but then turned away again. "I'm sure she will be..." she said slowly.
Suddenly Samantha flopped down across the bed and burst into tears. We turned in surprise.

"Ohhh...!" she cried. "It's my fault! I shouldn't have let it happen!... It was my fault!..."
Lindsay and I looked on, uncertain of what to do. After a few seconds Lindsay got up and sat down next to Samantha.

"Samantha, it wasn't your fault," she said, putting a hand on her back.
"It was..." Samantha sobbed.
"It wasn't. Sam, if you'd been able to stop her from falling, you would have, wouldn't you?"
"Yes..." Samantha murmured, slowly sitting up.
"Then you couldn't have done anything about it, because if you could you would have."

Samantha looked away from Lindsay, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"But I tried..." she said. "I tried to get a hold on her arm, but I couldn't."
"The thing is, you couldn't. You tried. You did everything you could. Nothing is your fault."
"But it wasn't Nellie's either..."
"It wasn't yours."
"It wasn't anybody's," I said. "It was purely an accident, and no one could have stopped it... But there's only a chance of the operation failing, and it's probably a small chance... Nellie is almost certain to be perfectly fine..."
Samantha nodded, with a sniff, and tried to stop the tears falling.
"Everything's going to be okay," Lindsay said, but she sounded sad.

Good News And Bad News

Hi, this is Molly! Today we got some really exciting news, but it was followed by something horrible.

Kirsten and I were starting to play 'General Knowledge', when Kit suddenly ran in.

"Guess what!" she said, grinning.
"What is it?" Kirsten and I said at the same time.
"My mom just got a call from my uncle in France, and he was asking if my little cousin - his daughter - can come and stay with us, because he and my aunt are becoming missionaries, and they didn't want to take a young girl with them because it would be too hard for her. And my mom said yes! So my cousin will be coming to stay with us!" Kit panted.
Kirsten and I smiled.
"What's her name?" I asked.
"It's Cherie," said Kit. "But everyone calls her Cherry, because she's got really rosy cheeks. She's seven."
"That will be really sweet!" said Kirsten. "Can she speak much English?"
"Oh yes. She was born in France, but because my Uncle's American she speak both French and English."
"That's good. When is she supposed to be coming?"I asked.
"In about a month, if everything goes smoothly. It'll be great to have two cousins in the house. And I haven't seen Cherry in ye -"
Suddenly we were interrupted by a thump and an awful shriek, followed by someone screaming, "Nellie!" in what sounded like a complete panic.

"What was that?" Kirsten asked, looking worried.
"I don't know," said Kit. "But we'd better go find out what's happening. It sounds like somebody's gotten hurt!"

We all got up and started half-running to the door. Benny tried to follow me, but I told him to stay.

We ran out, to find Nellie lying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, with Samantha standing next to her, looking very upset. Nellie wasn't moving, and I realized she was unconscious.
"What happened?" Kirsten asked.
"Nellie and I were just talking, and we decided to come downstairs, a-and she slipped, and fell, and I couldn't do anything to stop her! And she hit her head, and I don't know what to do...!" Samantha said tearfully, looking pleadingly towards us. She must have been very upset, because out of all of us she's the most first-aid qualified.
"Her leg doesn't look very good..." Kit said. "I think it may be broken."
Kirsten ran over and knelt beside Nellie to feel her pulse.

"Well, her pulse is normal," she said. "But her leg does look broken. And she may have a concussion... I think we should call an ambulance."
As I was about to run to the phone, Nellie started to stir.

She moaned, and opened her eyes a bit.
"Nellie?" Samantha said.
Nellie murmured.
"Nellie, wake up," said Kirsten, tapping her cheek. Nellie opened her eyes a little more.
"Wh - what's going on...?" Nellie whispered, slowly. "Ohh... it hurts..."
"What hurts?" Kirsten asked.
"I - I don't know... I'm dizzy..."
Kit mouthed to Samantha to go and phone for the ambulance, and she ran off, looking worried.
"Can you move?" asked Kit.
Nellie started to move slowly, but suddenly stopped.
"Ow!" she cried. "I can't move... I-it hurts!"
"Where?" Kit asked.
"My - My leg, a-and my arm too..." Nellie said, flinching in pain.
"It must be broken," I said, and Kit nodded.
Nellie lay back her head and moaned again.
Samantha came running back in.
"They say they'll be here in a few minutes," she said.
"Good," said Kit.
"I'll go and tell your aunt and uncle what's happened, Samantha," I offered.
"Thank you, Molly."

Hours later, we got to visit her in hospital. We were told that she had a bad concussion, and had broken her left arm and right leg, and also one of her right fingers.
"Are you okay?" Samantha asked as we came in.
"I'm alright..." said Nellie. "It just hurts."
"I'm really sorry."
"For what? You didn't do anything, Samantha."
"I couldn't stop you falling..."
"No... It's not your fault. Not at all. I'll be okay. Don't worry."
Samantha gave a grateful half-smile.
"How are you doing?" asked Kit.
"Well, aside from the broken bones and being a bit dizzy, I'm mostly alright." Nellie tried to smile.
"How long do you have to stay in here?" I asked.
"They say they don't know... But the nurse said at least three days. She said something about keeping an eye on the breaks or something..."
"Okay..." said Kirsten. "Are you comfortable, at least? I mean, aside from being in pain."
"Yes, I'm alright. And the nurses are nice."
"Good," Kirsten smiled.

In a few minutes, a nurse came over and told us we had to go. We all said goodbye, and slowly turned to leave.

"Goodbye," Nellie said quietly, lifting her hand.
Samantha stopped suddenly and turned back for a moment.
"Will you be okay?" she asked.
"Yes, of course I will," Nellie said, trying to smile again. "I promise I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'll be okay. I'll be out soon."
"Alright." Samantha tried to smile a bit herself.
"Goodbye," Nellie said again.
"Goodbye," we all said, heading for the door. "And goodnight. We'll come back to see you tomorrow."
"Alright, goodnight."

We walked out and left the hospital, feeling very dreary. We'd had a very long day, because there were hours when we didn't even know if Nellie was alright. But at least she's okay. Hopefully she'll be able to come home after just the three days. :)

Grateful Blogger Tag! :)

Hello! This is Nikki. I'm really happy to be back! My show was chaos, and the people in charge of the drama group who were supposed to help me let me down and made as much trouble for me as they could (I don't know why), but the cast did so well, and it went amazingly, and I'm really happy. :) The reason I haven't posted sooner is that I've needed a rest. Doing the show was so stressful, and I've had a lot of other things to do, and I needed to calm down and do as little as possible for a while. But now I'm rested, and the dolls and I should be able to come back permanently now. :)

We were nominated for the Grateful Blogger Tag a while back by Christian Homeschooler. (Thank you very much! :))

These are the rules:

1. Thank the person that awarded you.  They will surely appreciate it!  Also, leave a link back to the person that nominated you. 

2. Write ten things you are thankful for.  But you can’t say you’re thankful for gum and video games.  You have to consider the deep stuff.  The stuff  you are really thankful for.  

3. Tag ten other bloggers, even if you have to look up some, tag ten. 

4. Add the picture above to your sidebar or award page thanking the person who tags you.


 To name the things I am thankful for:

1. I'm thankful to God. I know lots of people say that, but I really mean it (and I'm sure most other people do too), and I couldn't list the things I'm thankful for without including God. I'm thankful to God above everything else. :)

2. I'm thankful for my friends, both online and where I live. They're all amazing people, and I could never survive without them. Friends are very special. :)

3. I'm thankful for my dolls (of course ;)). I really love them, and they mean so much to me. I'm so glad I can have them.

4. I'm thankful for for nature. I love the sea and the trees and the flowers. Everything's so beautiful, and God made it that way. :)

5. I'm thankful for the Bible. It has some wonderful passages, that explain so much about life and are so guiding. I'm glad God gave us his Word to live by. :)

6. I'm thankful for music. I love music, whether it's writing it or playing it or listening to it or dancing to it. Music is beautiful; it's like a different way of expressing your feelings, and it always carries so much emotion and joy in it.

7. I'm thankful for my drama groups. I really love acting and performing, and they are a place that I can do that, and work with really fun people at the same time. They're great. :)

8. I'm thankful for books. Reading is a way of escaping into another whole world, and the world changes every time you read another book. It's so much fun to imagine yourself into the stories.

9. I'm thankful for imagination. It's what makes drama and music and reading and all kinds of other things as fun as they are. I love imagining things!

10. I'm thankful for people. People are the most wonderful creation ever, and the best thing I've ever done is to work with them. People make you smile, and laugh, and sometimes they make you cry, but they're always there, and when you work together with them it's the most wonderful thing ever.


Since most people did this award a long time ago, a lot of the people I'm going to tag have probably already done it, but I'm going to tag them anyway, and if you want you can do it again.:)

1. American Girl Attic Girls
2. Little House Of American Girl
3.Ginger's Toy Chest
4. An American Girl Doll Story
5. The Disney Dolls
6. Through The Eyes Of A 12" Girl
7. Whiskers And Wildflowers
8. Wack-A-Doodle Dolls
9. Silver Creek Dolls
10. Delightful World Of Dolls

As for putting the award picture on my sidebar or award page, I don't have an award page, and I don't want my sidebar to be cluttered, so I hope nobody minds, but I'm going to just leave that for now (I may make an award page soon though :)).

Thank you so much for the award, Christian Homeschooler. I think it's the nicest award I've done yet. (I really liked doing it!) :)


PS Does anybody know how I can get the 'become a member of this site' gadget on my sidebar? I've been trying to get it but I can't seem to find it with the other gadgets, so I'm wondering if it's been taken away or something, or if I'm just missing it somehow. :P If I can't get it, what method of 'following' would you prefer to be put on this blog? Please let me know. :)

Exploring The Garden

Hello! I'm Carrie. I came to live with Nikki and her other dolls recently, and I think it's lovely here. I'm 16, and Sarah and I get on especially well. :)

Today, we had been sitting talking together for quite a while, but we were both getting bored. Eventually Sarah came up with an idea.
"Why don't we go out and explore the garden?" she said.
"Yes! That's a great idea."
"Alright then, let's!"

We got up and went outside. It was quite cold, but alright to be out without a coat for a while.
"I'm going to look over here," Sarah said, skipping off to our right. I decided to go the other way.

I came to the step outside the kitchen door. I think it's really pretty, because it's rounded, and the slabs of stone on it almost look patterned.
Suddenly I heard Sarah shouting.

"Hey! Come over here!" she said. "Look at this!"
I ran over to her.

She was standing under a funny sort of tree, planted in a huge pot.
"That's strange!" I said.
"It is, isn't it? I think it's pretty though."
"Yes, me too," I said, looking up at it. "And there's a light here too. I wonder if it comes on at night..."
"Me too. Let's watch it when it gets dark tonight."
I smiled. "Yes!" I looked around. "Let's go up to the lawn," I said, pointing.
"Alright," said Sarah, and we ran over to it.

Sarah stopped halfway. "Look at these little steps," she said, smiling. "They're lovely."
"Yes, they are. I think we should have come out and explored the garden long ago."
"Me too..." Sarah turned, and we carried on up the steps. "But then it would have been winter, so it would probably have been too cold."
"You're probably right."
When Sarah got to the grass, she suddenly stopped.
"Ew! This grass is squelchy!" she said.
I took a step onto it.
"Oh, you're right, it is!"
Sarah took two careful steps forward.
"It's not too bad," she said. "We should be able to walk across it without getting wet shoes."
She started walking again, slowly, and I followed. Eventually we got to the other side of the lawn, and were standing under the huge arched trellis.

"It's lovely under here, isn't it?" I said, looking back over the rest of the garden.
"Yes," said Sarah. "It's like some sort of fairyland."

"Shall we go back now?" I asked, after a while.
"Yes, let's go sit on the steps."

We went carefully back over the grass, and sat down, with the wind blowing our hair.
"I like the garden," I said.
"I do too," said Sarah, looking at everything. "I think we should come out here more often."
"Just in summer!" I laughed.
Sarah giggled.
"It's a pity there are no flowers out yet..." I said thoughtfully. "Are there a lot of flowers her in the summer?"
"Lots! Not as much as where we lived before, but still lots. This garden's really beautiful in the summer."
"It's beautiful now, too."
"Well wait till summer, then it's really lovely."
Suddenly a cold gust on wind blew over. We both shivered at the same time, and then giggled.
"Shall we go inside?" I asked.

 "Yes, I think we'd better," said Sarah, getting up. "We can get something warm to drink."
I stood up, and we walked inside, talking. I can't wait till the summer so I can see the garden at its best!


PS From Nikki: Hi everyone! I'm sorry it's taken so long to post, but I've been extremely busy (and I still will be until late April). As you know I've been directing the show I wrote at my drama group, but 6 people have left (most of them for fair reasons) after being cast, all in the space of 20 days, and because of that, in those 20 days a role has had to change hands 12 times! And now there's an empty role, and no one left in the group to fill it, so we're having to search like crazy to find someone, and at the same time, the people on committee are giving loads of other stuff to do (like costume and prop lists and organizing for cast photos to be taken), so I have a chaotic amount of things to think about. I actually only found the time for this post today because I was being so overloaded by people on every side asking me to do things for them, I just needed to stop thinking about any of it for a few hours, because otherwise I just would have gotten stressed by thinking about everything at once, and not been able to do anything. So, I may not be able to post again for a while, but I hopefully will every now and then, if I need to take a break from the other things I'm doing. Thank you for still reading even with all the long gaps I have left, and thanks for understanding. :)

Sorry (Again!)

Hi there! It's Nikki here. I'm pretty sure I'm I won't seem like I mean this by now, but I'm sorry I haven't posted since November. I've just been so, so busy! It's felt like it's still November to me until and week or so ago. I feel really bad, because I keep saying I'll come back, and then I make one post and disappear again. But this time I really think I can manage it. I won't be able to do a proper post for a while yet, but I should be able to do it and keep doing it soon. :) I'm busy playing the Fairy Godmother in a pantomime right now, and after that my drama group is performing a show that I wrote, and I'm going to be directing, so I'll probably be very busy until around April, but I should still be able to post - just not as often as I once did. I'm very sorry for leaving this blog for so long; I've missed the fun of writing all the posts, and I want to do it again. :) Thank you all very much for understanding, and hopefully [my dolls and] I will be back soon.;)